Ileana Garcia, State Attorney Develop Bill Punishing Drunk Boat Drivers After Teen's Death

After one teenage girl was left comatose and another was killed in a horrific Miami boating accident reportedly caused by a drunk captain, a South Florida Senator plans to ratchet up the penalties for drunken boat operators.

With a bill entitled "boating safety," Republican Sen. Ileana Garcia worked with South Florida State Attorney Kathy Fernandez-Rundle to dramatically increase deterrents for those who would recklessly endanger Floridians on the water after Miami man George Pino allegedly drunkenly crashed his boat in 2022 and inadvertently killed his daughter's 17-year-old friend, Lucy Fernandez, and severely debilitated another, Katy Puig.

"State Attorney Fernandez Rundle played a key role in developing the legislation that introduces tougher penalties," Garcia told The Floridian, referring to Rundle filing homicide charges last month against Pino.

Garcia's 32-page bill, SB 58, proposes a slew of hardened penalties for boating violators, including a graduated scale for boat drivers who cause accidents and leave the scene without properly helping the victims or notifying law enforcement.

If a boater does, it's a first-degree misdemeanor to have also caused property damage, a third-degree felony to have caused injury, a second-degree felony to have caused serious bodily injury, and a first-degree felony to have killed someone.

George Pino, a prominent real estate broker who allegedly caused the Labor Day crash and death of Lucy Fernandez, is accused of doing all of the above. While he was initially charged with only three misdemeanors, those charges were dropped on Halloween in favor of a felony vessel homicide charge, which has a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

He's also accused of boating under the influence (BUI), which while already illegal, Garcia wants to crack down on even more. Under the bill, a Floridian convicted of BUI manslaughter must be sentenced to a mandatory imprisonment term of 4 years.

Labor Day, 2022

On Sep. 4, 2022, Pino and his wife hosted thirteen teen girls on their 29-foot Robalo vessel for their daughter's birthday, all of whom went to the private, all-girls Catholic high schools Carrollton and Lourdes. Pino says that as he was piloting his boat with its twin 300-horsepower engines back to the dock, another vessel's big wake caused him to turn and check if everyone was okay.

That, he says, is when he hit a channel marker near Boca Chita Key, knocking everyone out of the vessel and tearing an enormous hole in the hull, CBS reported. Eleven of the 14 were injured, and Lucy Fernandez would later die. Katy Puig suffered a traumatic brain injury leaving her in a coma for three months.

As of May, the high school soccer star was in rehab relearning how to walk.

Rundle last year announced the misdemeanor charges against Pino after an "extensive" investigation by Fish and Wildlife (FWC) authorities. But then the Miami Herald reported interviews with three alleged eyewitnesses who said they were never contacted by FWC or the State Attorney's Office, and eventually, as more eyewitnesses emerged, Rundle replaced the misdemeanor charges with a homicide one.

This followed reports that Pino refused to submit to a breath alcohol test even though 61 empty alcoholic bottles and cans, including a half-drunk bottle of liquor, were found on the boat. Pino told authorities immediately after the accident that he had had two beers.

What else is in the bill?

Other facets of Garcia's sweeping legislation include:

• Adding "unborn child" as a potential victim of BUI manslaughter,
• A third-degree felony for recklessly operating a boat and causing serious bodily injury,
• A third-degree felony for violating a navigation rule and causing death or serious bodily injury,
• A required ignition interlock device and psychosocial evaluation if a boater is convicted of a BUI with a blood alcohol level of 0.15 (almost double the legal limit) or if they have a minor onboard
• A one-year ban from operating a boat for refusing to submit to a breathalyzer or other alcohol test,
• A two-year required ignition interlock device, paid for by the offender, on all vehicles belonging to someone convicted of their third BUI within ten years of their last offense.

Garcia attempted to pass a similar, yet smaller, bill last year. SB 54 absorbs last year's requirements that all boaters carry a boater safety ID and that all boaters have vessel insurance of up to a $100,000 policy for death or personal injury and a $50,000 policy covering property. If a captain does not carry the insurance, he can be subject to a second-degree misdemeanor.